Tent pole



Feb; 16,1943. v c c. THoRNQUlsT 2,311,1355

TENT POLE Filed Dec. 8, 1942 v 'nl'. 23 25 /6 v /7 le y l( 26 126 KQfZ/Ol 25 2( l 23 27 l 26 28|' 126 V /7 '26 ig g el? 25 27 if zi f 5 M.

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Patented Feb. 16, 1943 UNITE STATES PATNT OFFICi (Granted under the actof, March 3, 1883, as amended April 30, 1928; 37()l 0.` G. 757) 6Claims.

The invention described herein, if patented, may be manufactured andused by or for the Government for governmental purposes, without thepayment to me of any royalty thereon.

The present invention relates to sectional poles and more .particularlyto a novel and improved type of coupling for uniting the individualsections of a jointed pole such as a tent pole, so that the sections ofthe pole can be folded into a compact bundle.

Y 'Ihe principle object of the present invention is to provide a novelcoupling structure for interconnecting a sectional pole to provide arigid coupling of relatively great strength and of such mechanicalconstruction that thesections may be easily coupled together oruncoupled for folding.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sectional pole asabove described wherein the individual sections are permanentlyconnected to each other so that they are not subjecty to loss.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a pole havingthe structural characteristics noted above and of such construction asto present a neat, smooth, undistorted exterior surface.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sectional tent pole asabove, wherein the rnechanical construction is such that the overalllength of the tent pole must be substantially increased prior to foldingof the sections so that the longitudinal thrust exerted by the tentfabric when the pole is in use will prevent accidental collapse of thepole.

A further object of the invention is to provide a tent pole having theabove desirable characteristics and of such mechanical design as to beeconomical in cost, rugged in design, and adapted to mass productionmethods of manufacture.

These and other important objects are accomplished in the presentinvention by the provision of a novel and improved tent pole wherein theindividual sections of the tent pole are secured together by means of acylindrical sleeve around the exterior surfaces of the pole, and theindividual sections of the pole are secured in permanently connectedrelationship by connecting means positioned in counterbores in each ofthe pole sections, The connecting means consists of anchor members and alink arranged to telescope into the counterbores, so that the anchormembers and connecting link will be entirely concealed and housed withinthe tent pole structure when in erected position.

Before describing the structural details of the invention, it isbelieved pertinent to point out that various attempts have been made inthe prior art to provide a satisfactory jointed tent pole construction;and, while some of these have been` moderately successful, all formsknown to the present inventor have ben` unsatisfactory in certainrespects which the present invention seeks tov overcome. Morespecifically, certain prior structures have been objectionable in thatthe sections could be completely separated, with the result that theindividual short sections were apt to be lost and the usefulness of theset destroyed. l'urther, certain prior art devices have beenobjectionable by reason of the fact that they could be accidentallymanipulated into folding position by a person grasping the tent pole in,entering or leaving a tent, resulting in a collapse of the tent. Otherdevices have been objectionable in that they include the structuralirregularities on the outside of the tent pole which were objectionableas a mattei' of appearance, and because they might tend to catch uponthe clothing of a person entering or leaving the tent, with the resultthat the clothing might be torn. or the tent pole knocked down. Anotherl disadvantage commonly encountered in the prior art. devices arises byreason of the tendency of wooden poles to swell when subject to wetweather or excessive humidity and to thus prevent satisfactory operationof the coupling devices.

It is contemplated that the present invention will overcome theseobjections to the prior art devices by the provision of connecting andcoupling means for the individual sections of a tent pole whereby theindividual sections will be permanently connected together at all times,whether in folded or in erected position. Further, the coupling means isof such design and construction as to` be unaffected by the swelling ofthe wood or other material of whichthe sections of the pole may beformed andthe construction of the preferred embodiment of the inventionis such that the exterior surface of the pole is entirely smooth andfree from any projecting parts. In addition, a tent pole constructed inaccordance with the teachings of the present invention is positivelylocked in erected position by the longitudinal thrust exerted by thetent so that the pole is incapable of folding until the tent has beenremoved.

Referring now more particularly to the drawing attached to and forming apart of present specification,

Fig. l is an end elevational View of a conventional type of tentutilizing a tent pole constructedl in accordance with the teachings ofthis disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a fragmental elevational view of the tent pole in fullyextended position.

Fig. 3 is a sectional View through one of the coupling connections andis taken substantially on the plane of the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view through the coupling connection takenat an angle normal to the plane of Fig. 3 and showing the sections infully extended position,

Fig. 5 is an end elevational view of the tent pole in fully foldedposition, and

Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of the coupling between the polesections, the several parts thereof being shown in folded relationship.

The present preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated as athree-section tent pole of relatively small size, suitable forsupporting an individual shelter tent or pup tent I0.

The tent pole consists of a lower section II, intermediate section I2,and upper section I3, jointed together by coupling means to behereinafter described. The top of the upper section I3 may be finishedwith a ferrule I4 and vertical pin I5 to engage an eyelet in the fabricof the tent. The coupling means and connectors between the sections IIand I2 are identical with those between the sections I2 and I3, and eachof' these couplings means are arranged so that the tent pole sectionsmay be secured rigidly in endto-end relationship to support the tent, orso that the individual sections may be folded into side by siderelationship to form a three cornered bundle.

The coupling means between each of the adjacent sections of the tentpole consist of a cylindrical metal ferrule I6 permanently fitted on theupper extremity of the lowermost section and a sleeve I1 secured to theuppermost section. The ferrule I6 has an external diameter such that itwill iitv freely in telescoping relationship with the lower end of thecylindrical metal sleeve I1. Each of these metallic members aretightlytted to the exterior surface of the pole, but the ferrule I6terminated at the end of the pole, while the sleeve I1 extendssubstantially beyond the end of the Vpole vsection I3 to provide acylindrical socket I8 adapted to receive the ferrule I6.

I-t has been previously stated that one of the objects of the inventionis to provide a tent pole wherein. the individual sections arepermanently secured to each other. To this end connecting means areAprovided so that the adjacent ends of the several sections of the polewill be permanently secured to each other at alltimes Vand, thus notsubject to loss even when the tent pole is collapsed.' The connectingmeans consists of a upper anchor member 2I, illustrated as being oftubular formation, and mounted in a center counterbore 22 coaxial withthe section I3 and with the sleeve I1. The anchor member 2| may besecured to the section I3 in any desired manner, as for example, bymeans of the cross pin 23 which extends through the sleeve I1 andthroughv the tubular walls of the pole sectionI3 so that all of theindividual parts of the device are permanently secured to each other.The anchor member-ZI extends beyond the lower extremity of thecylindrical socket I8 and is bifurcated at its lower end to receive theupper end of a connecting link 25. The link 25 is secured to the lowerend of the anchor member 2I by a pivot pin 26. The lower end of the link25 is similarly securedto a loweranchor member 21 by a pivot pin 28, sothat the link 25 functions as a tension element to prevent completeseparation of the individual pole sections. The lower anchor member 21is also illustrated as of tubular formation and, in the preferred formof the device illustrated, it is loosely fitted into a deep counterbore29 in the lowermost section of the pole, so that it may be telescopedinto and out of the lower section for the purposes that will appearshortly. The tubular anchor member 21 is permanently secured to thelowermost section by a cross pin 3 I, but since considerablelongitudinal movement of the member 21 is necessary to the properfunctioning of the coupling, the side walls of the tube 21 are providedwith long slots 32 to provide a lost motion connection between the lowerpole section and the anchor member 21.

The coupling and connecting means between the sections II and I2 isidentical to that just described, although it may be pointed out thatthe link 25 at the lower end of the middle section I2 is located in anangular position 60 apart from the angular position of the link at theupper end of the section, so that the three sections of the pole may becollapsed into a triangular bundle as illustrated in Fig. 5. Theoperation of the device is as follows:

With the tent pole in erected position as illus'- trated in Fig. 1 itmay be collapsed into a triangular bundle by rst removing the tent, thengrasping the lower and upper sections II and I3, drawing themlongitudinally apart to disengage the ferrules I S from the sockets I8in the sleeves I1 and to extend the connecting means into the positionillustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawing. The tent'pole is then free to foldon the pivot pins 26 and 23 so that the individual sections of the poledouble back upon one another in the manner illustrated in Fig. 6. Inthis connection it will be noted that the links 25 are of a length atleast equal to the diameter of the individual tent pole sections so thatthe tent pole sections may lie exactly parallel with each other and willoccupy a minimum amount of space.

To erect the tent pole, it is only necessary'to pivot the individualsections into aligned position as shown in Fig. 4, and then telescopethe connecting members l2 I, 25, and 21 into the counterbore Z9 of thelowermost section of the As this operation' is performed, the ferrules I6 on the lowermost sections of the pole will enter and seat in thecylindrical sockets I8 of the upper sleeves I1 so that the individualpole sections will be rigidly secured in end-to-end relationship andVwill be capable of satisfactorily sup- A porting the tent.

' From the foregoing it should be apparent that by practicing theteachings of the present invention the known deficiencies of the priorart devices of this character have been overcome and a highlysatisfactory, rugged, and economical tent pole'connection has beenprovided.

It may be noted in passing that the present invention has beenspecically' designed to meet' present military requirements, and thatthe details of the devices illustrated in the' drawing of thisapplication show a preferred'embodiment of the invention as designed foruse with a regulation armyshelter tent, but itis contemplated that thedevice may have equal value for civilian or commercial uses and it istherefore requested that the scope of the inventive'thought of thisapplication be regarded as limited only by the terms of the appendedclaims.

- Having thus described my invention, what -I claim as new and desire tosecure by United States Letters Patent is:

1. In a sectional pole, a plurality of pole sections adapted to becoupled together in end-toend relationship; coupling means permanentlysecured to each section, the coupling means consisting of an externalferrule rigidly affixed to the end of one of the pole sections and acoupling sleeve rigidly affixed to the other pole section and extendingbeyond the end of the section to provide a, socket, said socket being ofdimensions to receive the aforementioned ferrule; together with acounterbore in each section, and connector means mounted within saidcounterbores, said connector means comprising an anchor memberpositioned in the counterbore of each section and adapted to extendbeyond the end of the section, a pivot adjacent the outer end of each ofsaid anchor members, a link interconnecting said pivots, and a lostmotion connection between one of said anchor members and its polesection, whereby the anchor member may slide inwardly substantiallybeyond the end of the pole section, to permit the outer end of theanchor member o the opposite pole section to be received in thecounterbore and thus permit the sleeve of the coupling means totelescope over the aforementioned ferrule.

2. In a sectional pole, a plurality of pole sections adapted to becoupled together in end-toend relationship; coupling means permanentlysecured to each section, the coupling means consisting of an externalferrule rigidly aflixed to the end of one of the pole sections and acoupling sleeve rigidly afxed to the other pole section and extendingbeyond the end or said pole section to provide a cylindrical socket atthe end of the section, said socket being of dimensions to receive theaforementioned ferrule; together with a counterbore in each section, andconnector means mounted within said counterbores, said connector meanscomprising an anchor member positioned in the counterbore of eachsection and adapted to extend beyond the end of the section, a pivotadjacent the outer end of each of said anchor members, a linkinterconnecting said pivots, and a lost motion connection between atleast one of said anchor members and its pole section.

3. In a sectional pole, a plurality of pole sections adapted to becoupled together in end-toend relationship; coupling means including asocket at the end of one section, said socket being of dimensions toreceive the end of the other section; together with a counterbore ineach section, and connector means mounted within said counterbores, saidconnector means comprising an anchor member positioned in thecounterbore of each section and adapted to extend beyond the end of thesection, a pivot adjacent the outer end of each of said anchor members,a link interconnecting said pivots, and a lost motion connection betweenat least one of said anchor members and its pole section.

4. In a sectional pole, a plurality of pole sections adapted to becoupled together in end-toend relationship; coupling means including asocket at the end of one section, said socket being of dimensions toreceive the end of the other section; together with a coimterbore ineach section, and connector means mounted within said counterbores, saidconnector means comprising an anchor tube positioned in the counterboreof each section and adapted to extend beyond the end of the section, apivot adjacent the outer end of each of said anchor tubes, a linkinterconnecting said pivots, a pair of long longitudinal slots in one ofthe tubes, and a cross pin extending through the poles section andthrough the slots in the tube to provide a lost motion connectionbetween said anchor members and at least one of the pole sections.

5. In a sectional pole, a plurality of separate, independent,non-telescopic pole sections adapted to be coupled together inend-to-end relationship; coupling means comprising a cylindrical tube toreceive the adjacent ends of two sections, and folding connector meansinterconnecting said sections to permit said pole sections to be foldedinto side-by-side relationship, said connector means including a lostmotion connection, a tension element, and a pair of anchor portions,said tension element and anchor portions being concentric with andhoused Within said coupling means.

6. In a sectional pole, a plurality of separate, independently,non-telescopic pole sections adapted to be coupled together inend-to-end relationship; coupling means permanently secured to eachsection; and folding connector means interconnecting said sections topermit said pole sections to be folded into side-by-side relationship,said connector means including a lost motion connection, a tensionelement, and a pair of anchor portions, said tension element and anchorportions being concentric with and housed within said coupling means.

CLIFFORD C. TI-IORNQUIST.

